I've used a scythe when I was a kid to clear weeds and grass where the tractor couldn't get to. When you get your technique down it's not too bad of work. If the ground is relatively flat and you have the room to swing the thing properly it works very well. My dad and uncle used to keep them seasonally in their hardware store and they did sell amazingly well even after gas powered weed eaters were first being sold.

Hard work, but if you ran out of gas, it would be important to keep the snakes away from the house! I sometimes use my machete to clear small, overgrown areas of the yard that are too steep for a mower. (Yes, I could use the weedeater, but then I will have to put on long pants when it is 90+ degrees outside.)

I have dogs and ther winter shelter is doghouses and ther lined with wild grass not straw, I found that straw though it is hollow and holds heat soon flattens and needs oftin changeing, wild grasses also have hollow stems but have a greater duration in service than straw (stronger stems)